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A Hawaiian folk legend about sexism, chauvinism, and a goddess with a flying yoni.

Pele

Pelehonuamea

According to ancient Hawaiian legend Pelehonuamea, commonly referred as Pele, was 1 of 6 daughters and 7 sons of Haumea (the Earth goddess) and Kane Milohai (the creator of the sky, earth, and the heavens. Pele is the goddess of fire and volcanoes. She came to the Hawaiian islands after being exiled from Tahiti because of her hot flaming temper. It is believed that she made Halema’uma’u Volcano her home. Pele is referred to as “She who shapes the sacred land”.

Stories over time have developed of Pele traveling throughout the islands appearing as a beautiful young or old woman sometimes accompanied by a white dog. When humans encounter her she will make small requests. If the person refuses to accommodate her needs they will face her wrath. Pele was reported by tourists of photo bombing her face in their vacation pictures of lava lakes.

Halema’uma’u Valcano, March 2013

Tourist beware, when visiting the Hawaiian Islands it is forbidden to remove a lava rock from the islands. Lava is a sacred piece of the fire goddess. If you remove a piece bad luck will fall upon you. Also when visiting Halema’uma’u, around the edges of the caldera, grow ohelo berries. It is considered offensive to eat these berries before offering them or at least asking for permission from the goddess. Remember, a fire goddess is not someone you want to offend, they tend to have a reputation of having explosive tempers.

Kapo

Kapo is a Hawaiian goddess of fertility, sorcery, and dark powers. She is believed to take on any shape that she pleases and has the ability of detaching her vagina from her body. It is also believed female mediums serving as a host to Kapo must cover their genitalia with a ti leaf. If they fail to do this, the mediums would be victims of having their vaginas ripped off.

Kamapua’a

Kamapua’a – The Pig God

Kamapua’a translates to pig child. Born on the island of Oahu through human parents he was known to be an adventurous and a mischievous character. Kamapua’a has the powers of turning his human form into a hog. Kamapua’a was a demigod that was only worshiped by commoners. In human form, Kamapua’a was described to be a very strong, attractive, and charismatic man. He had a reputation with the females in villages that he traveled through on his journeys.

There are many different variations to this story. According to one source, Kamapua’a falls in love with Pele but was quickly rejected by her calling him a “child of a pig”. With time, they fell in love but their short lived romance ended in a heated feud.

Feminism vs. Male Chauvinism

One Hawaiian legend tells of a situation where Kamapua’a was stalking Pele. After several rejections from Pele, Kamapua’a tried to force himself on her like a lusting animal. Somehow feeling something was wrong, Pele’s sister came to her aid. When Kapo arrived and saw Kamapua’a trying to rape Pele, Kapo pulled up her hula skirt, grabbed and ripped her own vagina off. She threw her heavily scented womanhood across Kamapua’a face enticing his lust away from Pele redirecting him like a dog fetching a flying stick hurling across the horizon. His pig instincts on overdrive caused Kamapua’a to run off of a cliff and land on his face. Some variations of the legend are saying that this magical vagina sprouted wings and flew about 200 km to the south-eastern point of O’ahu. The Kohe lele, another word for vagina, made an imprint on the ground after landing. The Hawaiian volcano crater is referred to as kohelepelepe, Hawaiian for fringed vagina.

Kohelepelepe aka Koko Head

Final Thoughts…

The story of Kapo and her flying vagina has many deeper meanings depending on how one perceives the telling of this story. Some people say that Kapo was an ancient feminist fighting against a male dominated culture. Kamapua’a, the pig god, coincidentally or intentionally played the role of a modern day reference to a “male chauvinist pig”. While reading about this legend, I’ll be honest, it lured me in the moment I saw the words magical flying vagina.References